The Poor You Will Always Have With You

[Abigail]

It is so incredibly liberating to undo the teachings of TWI!!! I ceased believing in many of them a long time ago, but I had no new understanding to replace many of them with, so I've been sort of stuck in limbo.

Now, I am finding the replacement understandings and it feels GREAT.

In TWI we were taught that we need not and really should not give to charities, because Jesus said, "the poor you will always have with you."

Here's another take on that statement . . .

Judaism teaches that we give to the poor, not because we feel like doing it, but because it is the right thing to do. In fact, the Hebrew word that is often translated into charity doesn't really mean charity as we understand it today, it really means something closer to "doing the right thing." It is, in a sense, an obligation.

With that backdrop on the Jewish attitude towards "charity" and keeping in mind Jesus was Jewish . . .

A woman pours expensive oil on Jesus' head and the disciples reprove her, because she could have sold the oil and given the money to the poor. Jesus responds by saying "the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."

The 'poor you will always have with you' is a paraphrasing from Deuteronomy. "For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy brother."

In other words, Jesus would have known that this woman would fulfill her duty to assist her poor and needy brother. And, because there will always be poor people on earth, she would not be lacking in opportunities to do so. But Jesus would only live on this early for a limited time period. This woman wanted to honor him and do him a kindness and this may have been her only opportunity to do so.

Black and white thinking again. TWI took this verse and turned it into and either or. Either you honor Jesus and cease giving to the poor or you dishonor Jesus and give to the poor. They never stated it in those terms, to be sure. But they made it clear all of our giving should be to TWI and none to charity.

Edited July 20, 2008 by Abigail

[cman]

Good one Abi, I like it!

[Oakspear]

The 'poor you will always have with you' is a paraphrasing from Deuteronomy. "For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy brother."

For a biblical research group they sure left out the context when it suited them, didn't they?

[waysider]

Ironic, really, that in PLAF (The Wonder Class) we were taught that the Gospels and OT were for those who only had natural man understanding and yet, to this particular point, they insisted we we give special attention.

Edited July 20, 2008 by waysider

[cman]

Also worth noting is

you will always have with you

With you. A bit personal I would say.

That would seem to say, if the poor is with us.

Then we are with the poor.

Basically no distinction of some sort of 'status'.

[Abigail]

Also worth noting is

With you. A bit personal I would say.

That would seem to say, if the poor is with us.

Then we are with the poor.

Basically no distinction of some sort of 'status'.

I like that, on a couple of different levels. But I think the thing it makes me think of the most is how connected all of us really are, even if we don't realize it.

[anotherDan]

.............Jesus would have known that this woman would fulfill her duty to assist her poor and needy brother. And, because there will always be poor people on earth, she would not be lacking in opportunities to do so. But Jesus would only live on this early for a limited time period. This woman wanted to honor him and do him a kindness and this may have been her only opportunity to do so.

I see that, Abs. Thanks for sharing that.

Edited July 23, 2008 by anotherDan

[brideofjc]

It is so incredibly liberating to undo the teachings of TWI!!! I ceased believing in many of them a long time ago, but I had no new understanding to replace many of them with, so I've been sort of stuck in limbo.

Now, I am finding the replacement understandings and it feels GREAT.

A woman pours expensive oil on Jesus' head and the disciples reprove her, because she could have sold the oil and given the money to the poor. Jesus responds by saying "the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."

The 'poor you will always have with you' is a paraphrasing from Deuteronomy. "For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy brother."

In other words, Jesus would have known that this woman would fulfill her duty to assist her poor and needy brother. And, because there will always be poor people on earth, she would not be lacking in opportunities to do so. But Jesus would only live on this early for a limited time period. This woman wanted to honor him and do him a kindness and this may have been her only opportunity to do so.

Black and white thinking again. TWI took this verse and turned it into and either or. Either you honor Jesus and cease giving to the poor or you dishonor Jesus and give to the poor. They never stated it in those terms, to be sure. But they made it clear all of our giving should be to TWI and none to charity.

Isn't it ironic that our brains were so befuddled with their garbage that apparently none of us thought to turn the table upon their very own logic and tell them that we didn't wish to give to their charity because it would dishonor the Lord Jesus!

[waterbuffalo]

Abi said:

The 'poor you will always have with you' is a paraphrasing from Deuteronomy. "For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy brother."

ohmygosh. ohmygosh. They are such dirtbags. Then twi should have been giving to their followers because we were truly among the poor financially because of our affiliation with them.